[ ::: ♥Keep_Mailing♥ ::: ]™ Doctors at the Time of Earthquack

Piece written by a surgeon who was operating in Patna when they felt the tremors of the Nepal earthquake: Dilemma!! Today, we were in the midst of an ongoing surgery as the quake shook Patna. The entire OT with all its equipment shuddered. The OT technician and 2 sisters ran out...  We(the anesthetist Dr. Bhavita Panjwani, my junior Dr. Mihir Shah and I) decided against leaving the OT as the patient was under anesthesia and somebody had to stay behind to take care of him. It was then that I realized there was nothing I could do to save myself or my team that included my wife, except PRAY. Not even run for safety like others. We later came to know that my colleagues, seniors and juniors in other 3 OTs had taken the same decision to stand by their patients. (Dr.Preeti Jain, Dr.A. Dubey, Dr. Ankit Shah, Dr.Shakti, Dr. Natasha, Dr. Shruti, Dr.Shankarshan, Dr.Vinay, Dr.Ajay, Dr. Jyoti Tiwari, , Dr. Rehman) So, even when their own lives are at risk if doctors take responsibility of their patients, who is going to see to the doctors' safety? But then, it is these Pts or their relatives that assault doctors and say medical profession is now just a business.... Was it the right decision to stay back or should we have left for our own safety,leaving the patient to his luck?  Should we also start retaliating to people who think it is OK to assault a doctor?? -- Dr Ghanish Panjwani Oncosurgeon, Patna  There might be many such doctors who had given priority to the responsibility risking their own lives yesterday. This responsibility comes right from the days of internship when doctors are taught to make everything else secondary to the patients welfare & that remains forever till the end of their life.  There are other professions where people work in night hours also. But is there any profession in which there is daily emergency & even after finishing your duty when you get back to home you have to think of responsibilities & be ready to go back to your job anytime. Everyday there will be sick patients & doctors have to sacrifice their sound sleep over them! The judiciary, engineers, bankers no other professionals has to be working on emergency basis(on duty even out of duty hours) DAILY THROUGHOUT THE LIFE!!!  It's not so easy to be a Doctor. This kind of writing should reach the general public because we doctors are already aware of all this.